Advances on the Study of Diurnal Flower-Opening Times of Rice.

The principal goal of rice ( L.) breeding is to increase the yield. In the past, hybrid rice was mainly intra-subspecies hybrids, but its yield has been difficult to improve. The hybridization between the and subspecies has stronger heterosis; the utilization of inter-subspecies heterosis is important for long-term improvement of rice yields. However, the different diurnal flower-opening times (DFOTs) between the and subspecies seriously reduce the efficiency of cross-pollination and yield and increase the cost of - hybrid rice seeds, which has become one of the main constraints for the development of - hybrid rice breeding. The DFOT of plants is adapted to their growing environment and is also closely related to species stability and evolution. Herein, we review the structure and physiological basis of rice flower opening, the factors that affect DFOT, and the progress of cloning and characterization of DFOT genes in rice. We also analyze the problems in the study of DFOT and provide corresponding suggestions.